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Drug abuse in America was essentially unchanged last year, the government says. About 6 percent of those over 12 years old -- or 14 million Americans -- were illegal drug users in 2000, according to an annual survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an arm of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The findings were not significantly different from 1999, either in the overall percentage of drug users or in the use of any of the major illegal drugs.

However, the percentage of 12- and 13-year-olds last year that had used an illegal drug in the month before being interviewed fell to 3 percent from 3.9 percent, the survey found.

The rate of those who had driven under the influence of drugs also declined, to 3.1 percent from 3.4 percent, it said.

In 1999, the number of those trying marijuana for the first time dropped, to 2 million new users from 2.6 million in 1996.

But marijuana use increased among women from 1999 to 2000, from 3.1 percent to 3.5 percent.

The survey also identified nonmedical use of the powerful prescription painkiller OxyContin, though still rare, as an emerging concern. The number of OxyContin abusers increased to 399,000 in 2000 from 221,000 in 1999. The pill, which produces a quick, heroin-like and potentially lethal high when chewed, snorted or injected, has been linked to more than 100 deaths nationwide since 1998.

Overall, 1.5 million Americans abused pain relievers for the first time in 1999, a large jump since the mid-1980s when the number was below 400,000. The rise chiefly came among 12- to 17-year-olds.

Edward Jurith, acting director of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, said some of the news, especially concerning drug use declines among the youngest adolescents, was encouraging.

But, he said, "More work is required to protect our youth from the harmful effects of drug abuse."

The face-to-face interviews were conducted during 2000 with a sample of 71,764 people.

This is all just gobbeldy goop in my humble opinion.The mere fact that the substances and actions mentioned are illeagal makes the responces suspect.I always wonder who the hell these people are in these surveys.I mean,has anyone in grasscity ever been polled and if so were you honest in your responces.After 30 plus years of tokin I know whenever I have been questioned about anything involving drug usage I am less than candid unless I know the questioner.

Old School

When I was in high school we had an assembly (several in graduating class sized groups) once where we were given a questionnaire to fill out anonymously.

I can say that I honestly answered the questions, but I was nervous about the school officials nonchalantly walking around the group. While our names were not on the paper, I think the multiple choices used and the way it was laid out made it easier to figure out how big of a druggie one was by simply glancing at the answer sheet.

For instance, most of the "a" answers were responses that meant you were very against "drugs". The more answers they saw that were not "a" probably raised flags.

I wasn't too worried, however. I turned in a research paper on why marijuana should be legal in my current events class. My teacher wrote "What about THB?" on the paper upon its return to me.

To this day I still don't know what that was supposed to mean.

I haven't been polled since on the issue of drug legalization. But one quick check of my criminal record would indicate my stanceâ€¦ most certainly!